This was probably the best song released in 2023.

Does nothing it should, and yet everything is just right. Talent beyond talent to do something like that.

I liked this film much better than I thought it would. It’s big dumb fun and some of the stunts and fight scenes are great. Unrealistic, but well-choreographed. It has panache and that goes a long way.

It has no substance. It’s all style. But it has so much style, who even cares? Not me. Definitely not me.

These days, I’m a tough customer when it comes to making me laugh. I can’t believe I missed this back in 2020, but it is hilarious:

If you don’t like zany wordplay and Geocities-ish design, you won’t like that. But I love both so it works for me.

Not even just Sysadmin but IT in general: Why do people expect us to know their jobs?

I’ve written about this more than once before, but it is freakin’ mystifying. I’ve literally helped lawyers write contracts. Pro tip: I’m not a damn lawyer! I haven’t even played one on TV.

These days I refuse to train or assist in such things. I just will not do it at all.

I know I am going to make many economists cry big (good!), but in most ways that matter, real estate wealth is fake wealth. Especially with how the differences between geographically-disparate markets have compressed, if you sell your home, well, you still have to live somewhere and you’ll be paying about the same for that too. There will not be any appreciable net gain.

The wealth equation is obviously different for companies that own and then rent out a lot of real estate (which should not be allowed), but for an individual? These days real estate wealth is almost-entirely artificial. How we do housing and treat it as an investment is a drag on GDP, productivity and living better lives. We need to break the back of the idea of real estate as an investment, because it’s a terrible and risky one even apart from its other huge disadvantages.

And it creates fake wealth where we all become like dragons purposelessly sitting on our real estate hoards.

Are there some people who eat pizza with a knife and a fork?

Yes. And they are monsters. And usually like pineapple on their pizza too. There’s just no understanding some people.

The first ten on today’s playlist:

Oh, I love this quote.

“I love movies so much that I’m even happy the bad ones get made.”

Me too. Making any film is really hard. It requires — at minimum — coordinating the work of dozens of people who all have to perform well for the film to get completed at all. Many films require bringing together and syncretizing hundreds of people. And some, thousands. It’s amazing they get done at all with some form of coherent product at the end.

Even the bad works of cinema are incredible acts of creation that people put a lot of love and time into. The good ones are magic in a bottle. And if the bad ones did not exist, we’d never get those good ones.

What’s the most annoying phrase you often hear from clients?

“Can I call you?”

I mean, at least they ask. But most often it’s after they receive some very clear, simple, meticulously-written instructions on exactly how to do something. And then they expect me to walk them through it on the phone like they are seven years old.

I used to just assent, but these days I push back with: “Please try following the attached instructions first and then if you are not able to complete the process, I will schedule a call where we can work on this together.” Over 90% of the time the client or user is able to do what they need to do without any help at all. I hate tying up people’s time and I only want someone babysitting me on the phone if I absolutely cannot do something after 5-10 times of trying it, so I cannot understand why so many people want to take up mine.

I know, I know, it’s because IT people are seen as “computer janitors,” even when you’re at my level — but I just do not play along with that bullshit anymore.

So, no, you can’t call me. At least not as the first thing you do.

Such a lovely, real film. I like how it shows without telling that Sandie is disassociating from all the being used and abused, and that the scene brackets that with the puerile, platitudinous insincerities from men who do not at all care about her as a person.

And because I’ve watched the behind-the-scenes footage, I know at 2:13 when Sandie looks down and starts to move a little awkwardly, it’s because she (rather, the actor Anya Taylor-Joy) has been told not to run into the ornate horizontal ring-light that she’s standing in the middle of. This works in the context of the film as Sandie’s mental state is deteriorating — but it’s also fun having that deeper knowledge of the constraints the actual actor is working under to make the scene.

It’s just such a good film. Love all the color — very unlike most modern films. Highly recommended.

Chick fil a price increases over the years.

From $6.55 to $9.75 in a bit under 4.5 years. That’s a 67% higher price in that time, averaging out to 15% inflation per year. That more closely resembles the inflation rate as most people experience it rather than the nearly-fictional numbers economists tell us are true. They’re not, but rather a convenient and semi-plausible lie (if you don’t look to closely) created and propagandized to shore up the ruling class’s dominance.

Why do employers go out of their way to make your job more irritating?

Some people really get off on exercising power over others. They enjoy it greatly. It is (I’d argue) even erotically charged for them. That alone explains at least 70% of the RTO push. A lot of office sociopaths lost their ability to have others grovel to them and they want it back at any cost.

All it is.

IT is a good job, but it’s difficult and here’s why: You basically have to learn a bachelor’s degree worth of new shit every 2-3 years to stay relevant. A lot of people can’t hang with that and I understand why. It’s really a huge lift and it never stops.

No one talks about that till you’re already in the field, though. It’s about the only job the above is true of and it’s pretty insane when you think about it.